Robots versus Monsters. What else could you want?

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2014)

You can't accuse Guillermo del Toro of being subtle in this picture. Pacific Rim is basically a slugfest between giant robots called Jaegers and giant monsters called Kaiju after the Japanese word for, what else, monster. It takes monsters to destroy monsters, and after an invasion by aliens from another dimension through a rift in the ocean floor, the governments of Earth unite and build giant robots to smash the living daylights out of those monsters who want to colonize the planet.
Synopsis out of the way, the pluses in this movie are many. Eye-popping special effects, monsters that actually look like they weigh what they're supposed to weigh--some CGI effects take that mass effect away--a solid supporting cast led by Idris Elba, and del Toro's trademark offbeat humor displayed so aptly by Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau, Burn Gorman as Doctor Gottlieb, Charlie Day as Doctor Geizler (both he and Gorman play the typical eccentric scientists that S/F movies always have to have) and a very nice semi-romantic ending between the two leads (Rinko Kikuchi and Charlie Hunnam) along with a rousing musical score by Ramin Djawadi.
Kikuchi plays her part nicely and doesn't stoop to stereotype, while the love/hero interest is portrayed by Charlie Hunnam...
...and that leads to the one drawback of the movie. His performance is only a shade above wooden. Granted, he looks good and shares a couple of nicely underplayed scenes with Rinko Kikuchi--their relationship is marked by loss at first rather than actual physical attraction--but overall, a store mannequin would have given an equally moving performance and Hunnam is largely forgettable. His narration at the beginning of the movie is also somewhat offputting, but overall the movie is so much fun and Perlman in particular steals every scene that he's in, that it's hard not to like this film.
Will there be a sequel? Hopefully yes, as long as Perlman (and his trademark gold shoes) is in it.